I've been blogged!

John from Big Rig Quilting gave me a mention on his blog. Check it out!

Someone is quilting...

... but it isn't me!

Natasha has been following my quilt along and used one of my designs in her border. Check it out!

What did I do today instead of quilting?

I saw another waterfall:

And a bear:

And another bear:

I actually saw nine bears and an uncounted number of waterfalls today, but sadly the upload speed on the wireless in my condo won't let me show them all to you.

Tomorrow, I don't think I will see any more bears or any more waterfalls. I leave before sunrise to fly to Utah to film Quilt It! I promise to take photos and share them with you.

An adventure + a give-away!

Remember my love of all things tablerunner-ish?

This new series is my cup of tea!

I am thrilled to announce a new fall pattern series:

Starting today, there will be a give-away for 2 free workshops.

· Start date: August 18th Thursday
· End Date/winner announced: August 21st Sunday

Go to Patchwork Posse and leave a comment on the post on the front page for one chance to win.

Want more than one entry? Leave another comment to let us know you tweeted.

· Winner can be from anywhere worldwide since it is an online workshop!!

So, what are you winning?

· Who are the designers?

· Becky's blog: http://patchworkposse.com/blog

· Wendy's blog: http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/

· My blog: http://www.higheredhands.blogspot.com/

· Kari's blog: http://freshcutquilts.blogspot.com/

· Rugs & Runners Online Workshop. For 4 months, a new pattern for a Table Runner + an adjustment for a Mug Rug will be posted. These are exclusive patterns by super talented designers! Each month the patterns will feature a different season. The workshop site is available 24/7 allowing you to sew on your own time and in your own home. Besides the patterns you will have access to a gallery to post your photos, a forum to ask questions, and a community of worldwide members. Don’t miss out on these great patterns by your favorite designers!

I will be teaching my pattern in November. To whet your appetite, check out the lovely fabrics I will be using:

While you are entering and posting and tweeting, I will be hiking somewhere in the Great Smoky Mountains (vacation-- whee!!!) and seeing more lovely sights like the waterfall below:

(The child in the photo is not one of mine: he just happened to get caught in the photo)

Design Wall Monday

I actually have something on my design wall!





It is a dreary rainy day here in NY, so the photo is not great. Sorry!

In a few weeks I will be filming an episode of Quilt It, a longarm quilting show on QNNtv.com, and these are my samples. I just finished the applique and piecing and will start quilting them in the morning.

How will I qulit them? Stay tuned.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Please check out my free-motion quilting videos.

What are you doing today?

Did anyone else sing that as a choir warm up exercise? We did the mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi and he-he-he-he-he-he-he and then added words.

I'm on some serious deadlines and not getting much sleep so my brain goes weird places like 4th grade choir rehearsal. Sorry.

But, What am I doing today?

I have all three longarm machines fired up.

On the Gammill:



It's a super-secret project I promise to show you later. I am adoring every second of it and will have to make another one just for me.

On the HQ 24 Fusion:



It's a semi-secret project I promise to show you later.

On the HQ Sweet Sixteen:



It's a scrappy, messy, thready project that I hope to spend a few minutes on tonight if I finish the super-secret quilt and part of the semi-secret quilt in a timely fashion.

Now tell me, what are YOU doing today?

Stop, Drop and Roll, part 8.4

Welcome to week 8 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is inspired by the view from my sewing room. The entire hillside is covered with ferns. This design combines the fiddlehead and the fern.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

That was the last design! Pick a few and quilt your quilt!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 8.3

Welcome to week 8 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a spiral feather design.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I retrace, I don't try to retrace my lines exactly. I like the whimsical look of crossed lines.
• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.
  

Check back tomorrow for the final swirl design!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 8.2

Welcome to week 8 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a border spiral design.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I retrace, I don't try to retrace my lines exactly. I like the whimsical look of crossed lines.
• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.
  

Check back tomorrow for another swirl design!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 8.1

Welcome to week 8 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is an overall spiral design.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I retrace, I don't try to retrace my lines exactly. I like the whimsical look of crossed lines.
• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.
  

Check back tomorrow for another swirl design!

Guess who I met?

LEAH DAY!!!

Oh yes I did!

I was working at the Handi Quilter booth at the AQS show in Knoxville and Leah came by to try out the Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen. She was probably at the show to see her quilt which won "best machine quilting." Yes, her quilt was that awesome.

What could be better than that? She mentioned me on her blog.

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 7.4

Welcome to week 7 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns .

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on an S-curve.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU20 Storm.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB302 Royal Blue.

After filming, I realized that the darker blue thread did not show well on the black fabric. Sorry!

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is called Elements. I used this design on my son's friends' graduation quilts. Those boys loved to have bonfires (with parental supervision, of course) and the design reminds me of flames.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.
  

Next week: swirl designs!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 7.3

Welcome to week 7 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns .

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on an S-curve.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU20 Storm.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB302 Royal Blue.

After filming, I realized that the darker blue thread did not show well on the black fabric. Sorry!

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is leaves.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Stop back tomorrow for another S-curve design!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 7.2

Welcome to week 7 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns .

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on an S-curve.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU20 Storm.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB302 Royal Blue.

After filming, I realized that the darker blue thread did not show well on the black fabric. Sorry!

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a fancy fern.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Stop back tomorrow for another S-curve design!

Papillon, part 5

The current issue of Fabric Trends has the pattern for Papillon, a quilt designed by my good friends at the The Quilt Basket. I quilted their sample and thought I would show you how.

Last week, I showed how I quilted the background of the butterflies. This week, I will show how I quilted the white border triangles.

I pulled out my Quilter's Preview Paper to see what design might look nice.

Maybe a swirl?

Yes!

Let's quilt:

Sources from the video:

• I quilt on a HQ 24 Fusion
• I used Tutti thread TU 37 (shell) and a size 16 needle for the swirls
• The kit for this quilt is available from the Quilt Basket
  

Next week, I will show how to quilt the brown sashing. Be sure to come back and check it out!

Sunday Stash Report -- another wedding quilt finished!!!

My Sunday Stash Report:

fabric purchased this week: 0
fabric purchased this year: 36 yards
fabric used this week: 9.5 yards
fabric used this year: 198.75 yards

Stash reduced by: 162.73 yards

I finally finished a quilt this week. It was finished 40 hours before the wedding!!! That must be some kind of a record.

Head on over to Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing.

Please check out my free-motion quilting videos.

In Solidarity

A dear friend of mine is having some health problems and has been placed on an extremely restricted diet. The hope is that this can reverse the problem and avoid a lifetime of medications.

Since I am (mostly) a vegetarian, I offered to show my friend how tasty vegetarian fare could be. I decided to cook some vegetarian meals that they could replicate and thought you might like to read about them, too.

Lo Mein for two

Start with some noodles:

I cooked up one bundle and set them aside.

Now chop the veggies:



Saute the garlic and ginger in a little oil:



Add the carrots, celery and onions (sorry for the steam in the photo):



Add the mushrooms, broccoli and snow peas:

Add a few tablespoons of water and cook until veggies are somewhat tender. Add in the noodles and some sauce* (and some sesame oil if you have it):



Let cook for a few minutes until the sauce thickens.

Serve:



Enjoy!

*sauce: I mix one cup of veggie broth with 2-3T of soy sauce, 1 T of rice wine vinegar (optional), and 1 T of cornstarch. I only use maybe 1/4 cup of this sauce for this amount of lo mein.

Stop, Drop and Roll, part 7.1

Welcome to week 7 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns .

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on an S-curve.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU20 Storm.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB302 Royal Blue.

After filming, I realized that the darker blue thread did not show well on the black fabric. Sorry!

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a simple repeating S-curve.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Stop back tomorrow for another S-curve design!

Papillon, part 4

The current issue of Fabric Trends has the pattern for Papillon, a quilt designed by my good friends at the The Quilt Basket. I quilted their sample and thought I would show you how.

Last week, I showed how I quilted the background of the star blocks. This week, I will show how I quilted the center butterfly square.

I pulled out my Quilter's Preview Paper to see what design might look nice.

Maybe a star over the block?

No! Maybe some continuous curve over the block?

No! Maybe some cross-hatching over the block?

No! Maybe some swirls over the block?

No! Maybe swirls behind the butterfly?

Yes! The Preview Paper saved me from a lot of un-stitching. That stuff is worth it's weight in gold!

Let's quilt:

And a view of the finished block:

Sources from the video:

• I quilt on a HQ 24 Fusion
• I used Tutti thread TU 37 (shell) and a size 16 needle for the swirls
• The kit for this quilt is available from the Quilt Basket
  

Next week, I will show how to quilt the white border triangles. Be sure to come back and check it out!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 6.4

Welcome to week 6 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a loop.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU19 Lavender.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB314 Lilac.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is pebbles!

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• To keep my loops round, I stitch over one and under the next.
• To get from one place to another, I retrace the pebbles.
• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.
• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Stop back next week for more free-motion quilting designs!

Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 6.3

Welcome to week 6 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a loop.

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU19 Lavender.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB314 Lilac.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is a loopy border pattern that would also make a great block pattern.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.
• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Stop back tomorrow for another loop design!